My Vinyl Offering – Richard Powley

In My Vinyl Offering, we get up close and personal with our favorite musicians and friends to find out the most cherished parts of their record collection. This time around we feature the collection of UK musician Richard Powley, guitarist for the progressive, sludgy post-metal band Telepathy. Be sure to catch Telepathy on tour. Check out some dates below.

The first record I ever bought with my own money was…
“I think it was either Bad Religion – Process of Belief or Ozzy’s Down to Earth or Ozzmosis. The first record I was ever gifted though was Michael Jackson’s Dangerous on cassette.”

The record that made me want to make music was…
“This goes way back. When I was 11, I had to take a test to see if I get into grammar school (I turned it down anyway), and i had the flu. I had been obsessed with Dave Mirra BMX video game soundtrack for some months and in particular a song called “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath. My mother told me if I went to the test she would get me a present. After the test she took me to a record store and bought me the first eight Black Sabbath albums in a box set. That was the start of everything for me, and probably the defining moment for me wanting to learn guitar and write music.”

The record I’ve played more than any other is…
“This is a tough one. Probably a split between the Beach Boys Pet Sounds, Tool 10,000 Days or The Cure Disintegration. More recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Bohren & der Club of Gore Sunset Mission, Run the Jewels RTJ2 and Chelsea Wolfe Hiss Spun.

The record that always make me feel good is…
Brian Wilson Smile or Bad Religion No Control.

The record I turn to when I’m feeling down is…
This often changes, and different periods of my life would herald different results. Having struggled with severe anxiety and depression since my late teens I have a few songs and records that have been important to me. In more recent dark times the song I would turn to was “Nowena” by Amenra, such a powerful and uplifting opening lyric. Before that, maybe “Marrow” by YOB. In my late teens, the records Wish, Disintegration and Pornography by the Cure were incredibly helpful, a perfect combination of despair and hope set to record. In particular the songs “Open,” “Strange Days” and “Plainsong” were monumental for me.

The record with my favorite cover art is…
Tough choice. I’m a fan of intense artwork with a strong sense of graphic design that you can read into, something I hope my own band carries with forward. Obviously Jane Doe is a masterpiece, something I would put alongside Dark Side of the Moon and Masters of Reality as one of the most striking covers of all time. I’m a big fan of Alex CF’s (Light Bearer/Fall of Efrafa) artwork as well, but at the moment my favourite artwork is the Dalek album Abandoned Language, which is on heavy rotation along with their newest, which is illustrated by the great Paul Romano.

The strangest LP I own is…
Probably a record from a German band called Octo that supported us recently. Two bass players and a drummer playing a mix of Zu-ish jazz-core and noise rock. Great band and stunning artwork on this release.

The rarest LP I own is…

One of these two.

A first pressing white vinyl of His Hero is Gone’s Monuments to Thieves, no one seems to know how many white vinyl were pressed as part of the initial press, and obviously this is an absolute classic of sludge/crust punk. One of the most important bands in underground heavy music and I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

Light Bearer Silver Tongue, hand cut 2x180gr LP in a hand made, hand screen printed ltd edition box with alternate artwork in metallic ink and a fold out cover. One of my favourite records of all time. Ltd to 200 copies I believe.

The last LP I bought was…
Either an mp3 of Placebo’s Meds album or a vinyl of O’s When Plants Turn Into Stone from our fab label Golden Antenna Records.

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Telepathy’s latest album, Tempest, was released back on March 31, 2017. The CD is sold out, but you can still pick up a copy of the vinyl version right here.